IFC and IFC ALAC Fund Invest in Afrimax Group to Support Expansion in Region

Washington D.C., September 14, 2015
– IFC and the IFC African, Latin American, and Caribbean Fund (IFC
ALAC Fund) have participated in a new round of growth financing forAfrimax to accelerate the rollout of its leading edge, LTE led business
model, across multiple African markets.

This latest investment round in Afrimax
Group is led by Mitsui & Co., Ltd., the Japanese conglomerate headquartered
in Tokyo, and includes participation from existing shareholders. IFC and
the IFC ALAC Fund, a fund managed by the IFC Asset Management Company,
contributed $14 million to the round, following earlier combined investments
of $19.5 million in 2013.
In November 2014, Vodafone and Afrimax Group jointly announced a non-equity
strategic framework agreement to cooperate and explore opportunities for
partner market agreements in the Sub-Saharan Africa region. Under this
framework agreement, Vodafone Uganda was launched in February 2015, combining
the deployment of new high speed 4G networks with the use of existing infrastructure
for 2G/3G services.

“Our continued support to Afrimax reflects
IFC’s long term strategy to increase broadband access in Africa. Sub-Saharan
African mobile penetration is around 85% but currently less than 10% of
mobile phone users in the region can access the Internet by broadband connection.
Afrimax is improving this, giving people access to efficiency gains, business
opportunities and greater access to information” said Aniko Szigetvari,
Global Head, Telecommunications, Media and Technology for IFC.
Etleva Koka, Principal, IFC ALAC Fund said, “We are pleased to strengthen
our partnership with Afrimax as it continues to grow in the region. The
company has a strong track record of providing broadband internet services
that are very much needed in the Sub-Saharan Africa countries.”

About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development
institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. Working
with more than 2,000 businesses worldwide, we use our capital, expertise,
and influence, to create opportunity where it’s needed most. In FY15,
our long-term investments in developing countries rose to nearly $18 billion,
helping the private sector play an essential role in the global effort
to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. For more information,
visit www.ifc.org

About IFC Asset Management Company
IFC Asset Management Company LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of IFC, invests
third-party capital, enabling outside investors to benefit from IFC’s
expertise in achieving strong equity returns, as well as positive development
impact in the countries in which it invests. It has raised over $8.7 billion
of capital across eleven investment funds, including the $1 billion IFC
African, Latin American and Caribbean Fund. For more information, visit
http://www.ifcamc.org/